According to the U.N., 200,000 farmers produced 2,800
tons of dry opium in Afghanistan last year, about 25% more than in 1996.
The opium--and heroin, which is manufactured from opium in clandestine,
makeshift labs--is officially taxed, generating as much as $20 million
a year in revenue. Until alternative crops can be introduced, Taliban officials
argue, poppy cultivation is an economic necessity for the war-ravaged country's
desperately poor farmers. Afghanistan is currently the world's largest
producer of illicit opiates, according to the U.N., as well as the source
of about 80% of Europe's heroin market and 15% to 20% of North America's.